In the Life of a Band Nerd
by Argul
Summary: The story of my journey through a years worth of band. Kind of lame but yeah. All true band nerds should be able to relate to the story in some way or another. R&R please.
1. About the Story

About the Story  
  
The Big Blue Band (also know as the North Mesquite High School Band) has had a tradition of pride and honour for the last five years, of which I have been a member for the last one so far. Our directors have pushed us to our limits to be the best musicians we can be. The freshmen class (my class, class of 2006) this last year has excelled beyond the expectations set by both the directors and ourselves. I owe all my success to the devotion from the directors and my fellow students. I am hoping in this story to tell you of the major events and happenings of my freshmen year with, in my opinion, the best band in North Texas. 


	2. The Big Blue Band

The Big Blue Band  
  
In my band there are many different sub-divisions that one may qualify for. Our Band Motto is "One band," but the groups that comprise our band could not be more diverse. To be in one of these groups requires hard work and lots of effort along with a positive attitude. With these things, combined with determination and skill, you will thrive in one of these certain groups.  
  
The first group is the Senior Band Council. To be selected for this group you must be a senior in the Wind Ensemble or the head drum major. During the course of the year, these people decide what the events (parties, banquets, and the lock-in party) of the year are to be like. This group is the most honourable organization in our band and the people are treated with respect and are the foundation of pride for the entire band.  
  
The second group is the Junior Band Council. These people meet and random times appointed by the Band President (Kurt Lawrence, member of the Senior Council, trombone) throughout the year to vote on how things should change for the next year, and what should remain the same. These select few are only overruled by the directors and the Senior Council. Members for this group are hand-picked by either the Band President or the Drum Majors. I am a member of this group and was hand-picked by the Band President himself.  
  
Third in line comes the Section Leaders. To be a Section Leader you must show excellent leadership qualities and be in the Wind Ensemble. Usually the Section Leader of a section is picked by being first chair but as you will learn in my Sophomore-year story, things will change. The Section Leaders are also normally in the Senior or Junior Councils. They have the power to call sectionals or extra marching rehearsals for their section only. I am the section leader of the Big Blue Clarinet Line.  
  
Next we have a different assortment of sub-divisions that I shall list in concert order for they are all equal but completely different from one another.  
  
The Upper Woodwinds. This group is comprised of piccolos, flutes, oboes, clarinets, and the first alto saxophone. I am included in this group of individuals because I play the clarinet. This group is the one that should receive the most respect from the band, for we have the hard parts in all music. This group has to strive the hardest out on the marching field and on stage because the brass seems to always want to overpower us. This group usually does include those few ditsy flute and clarinet playing girls, but we manage to push through all the hardships.  
  
Next in the order are the Lower Woodwinds which consists of the lower saxophones, bass clarinets, and bassoons. These are the folks that help out the tubas or sousaphones on the marching field and sometimes on the stage. Some of the Lower Woodwinds become "Woodwind Traitors," by joining the Cymbal Line during Marching Season. When they agree with Mr. Zender, the percussion director, to be on the Cymbal Line, all the Upper Woodwinds turn their backs on them for Marching Season, but as soon as Concert Season starts they allow the "Traitors" to rejoin the Woodwind group.  
  
After them comes the Upper Brass, comprised of the trumpets, mellophones, and french horns. The trumpets, unfortunately, rule over this group. I do not see why the mellophones and french horns allow themselves to be overruled by the trumpets because the trumpet players are extremely arrogant and stubborn. I also belong to this group too as you will learn later on in this chapter.  
  
Next comes the Low Brass, which is composed of trombones, euphonium baritones, tubas, and sousaphones. These people create the base of the bands sound. They are what make our band the best band in Mesquite, Texas. We have an awesome Low Brass section. In our Low Brass section last year we had ten members in the All Region Wind Ensemble, and one of our tubas (Ryan Wilk) was a member of the All State Band two years in a row. We owe a lot of our pride that we have towards the band to the Low Brass.  
  
And then we have the Drummers. We do not call them percussionists in our band nor are they split up into mallets, battery, pit, or timpani for they do not posses the skill to be called a percussionist. Our Drummer Section is what has cause the band some bad scores at one of our marching contests because they do not seem to want to keep a steady tempo. There is a saying that if you want a drummer to do an accelerando, turn a metronome on to 120 bpm and tell him or her to play steady eighth notes. This is true of our drummers. The entire band does not like this about them. Our percussion director (who should be called our drummer director) tends to be quite strict with the Drummer Section and calls many more rehearsals than are necessary to try and get the drummers to play at steady tempos, but mostly he never succeeds in doing so.  
  
The group lower than the Sections are the Hybrids. These are the people that know how to play more than one instrument. I belong to this group because I know how to play the clarinet, french horn, and the trumpet (I am not an arrogant trumpet player). I am almost the only person in my band that belongs to this group because it seems that most everybody else does not wish to excel at their music playing skills. There is not really all that much to say about this group so I will leave it alone for now.  
  
Next we have the order of the bands. I am putting these in the order of importance because each band receives a different amount of respect and honour.  
  
The Wind Ensemble, or Honours Band, is the top band at our school. The Wind Ensemble is composed of the best players the school has. I am the first chair in this band so needless to say I am the Section Leader. This is the band that wins most of the trophies and awards that the band receives. We take great pride in our playing abilities. I went into this band at the beginning of the year in second chair (beaten only by Michael Scott) but came out of the chair test after Marching Season in first. The Wind Ensemble's director is Mr. Lynn Childers, one of the countries most accomplished trombones players. He was selected a number of years ago to play at Bruce Springstein's son's birthday party. He was offered a job conducting the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra but declined the offer to come and teach at North Mesquite High School. When he arrived at the school the band immediately improved, and has won first divisions in all major competitions.  
  
Next we have the Symphonic Band. The Symphonic Band is comprised of the intermediate players of the band and is directed by Mr. Benjamin Sumrak, a very skilled saxophonist that plays with the North Texas Wind Symphony from time to time. The Symphonic Band had made miraculous improvements over the past four years under Mr. Sumrak's direction.  
  
After the Symphonic Band, the Concert Band dwells at the lowest of the ladder. The Concert Band is for those students who do not have the playing ability to join one of the other bands at our school. This is the one that most of the freshmen will go into when they move up from middle school. The Concert Band usually does not win many awards and does not receive outstanding achievements in award ceremonies. The Concert Band was under the direction of Mr. Michael Major, but this upcoming year he is transferring to one of my high schools feeder schools to boost the band program there.  
  
The Blast group meets to do a performance once a year in the spring and does an outstanding job at doing it. Once again I can say that I am included in this group. This group of people has fun doing their performance for if you have ever seen Blast of Brass you know that they do lots of choreography in their show. They also play some really cool music.  
  
The Jazz Band is a grouping of trombone, trumpet, saxophone, and baritone players. The Jazz Band also includes a Rhythm Section (piano, drum set, xylophone, and quads). They play at the Blast Concert and the Spring Concert  
  
That is just about all I can say about the different sub-divisions in our band. I might think of more to add as the story goes along so keep a watch out for more information. 


	3. Freshman Camp 2002

Freshman Camp 2002  
  
The first day of the Freshman Camp was one of the better days of Summer Band. The first day we slowly began to gather in the band hall at about 6:30am till about 7:00am to begin our marching band experience. When I had arrived I was greeted by the Head Drum Major (Kasey Childers, the band director's daughter).  
  
"Who are you?" she asked when I stepped out of the car.  
  
"Mike," I said to her.  
  
She says, "Mike Henson!? Wow, I have heard a lot about you. Congratulations on second chair."  
  
"Thanks," I say and walk into the brand new band hall built onto our school. Inside there are only about three people already there, so I decide to go back outside to wait on some friends. After a couple of minutes of waiting, Michael Scott gets out of his mom's car and walks over to me and we talk a little while until he goes inside.  
  
Later, when everybody arrives, Mr. Childers starts introducing the staff members and drum majors to us. Our drum majors for the year were: Kasey Childers (Head Drum Major) and Karmon Benbrook (Assistant Drum Major). After the introductions, we began to learn the basic things needed to know to march in our Marching Band.   
  
Here I am going to explain the things that we learned that morning.  
  
  
  
Position of Attention  
  
-Feet should remain together at all times to look neat and uniform  
  
-Stomach should be sucked in to help with better posture  
  
-Shoulders should be pulled back to make you taller  
  
-Chin should remain up at all times to "make you look honourable." We all know it's really to keep you from looking at the dots on the ground  
  
Assuming the Positions of Attention (this is where we get to yell as follows)  
  
Drum Major: Assume the positions of attention! FEET!  
  
Band: TOGETHER!  
  
DM: STOMACH!  
  
B: IN!  
  
DM: SHOULDERS!  
  
B: BACK!  
  
DM: CHIN!  
  
B: UP!  
  
DM: EYES!  
  
B: WITH PRIDE!  
  
DM: EYES!  
  
B: WITH PRIDE!  
  
DM: EYES!!!!!  
  
B: WITH PRIDE!!!!!  
  
Band Ten Hut  
  
This is where the entire band immediately comes to attention. This is the standard position for all times when not playing.  
  
Band Ra-Heat Hace  
  
Right facing command. Counts are "1, 2."  
  
Band Lay-Oft Hace  
  
Left facing command. Counts are "1, 2."  
  
Band Horns Up  
  
This is the command the drum majors give for us to put our horns up to our mouths (playing position). Counts are "hit, in."  
  
Band Horns Down  
  
Command given for the horns to go back into Attention. Counts are "out, down."  
  
Band Abahoot Hace  
  
Turn around command. Counts are "1, 2, 3."  
  
After we were taught all the basic commands, we all sat down in a big circle in the band hall and played this game where one person says their name and something about them, then the next person, ect. We started with the Assistant Drum Major Karmon.  
  
"I'm Karmon and I'm cool," she said.  
  
When it came to be my turn, I yawned (quite by accident) and said, "I'm Mike and I'm tired." Everybody thought it was kind of funny. I was too tired to really pay attention so I had some trouble remembering some of the people's names.  
  
After that we learned this warm-up like song to do. It goes as follows:  
  
DM: Hello!  
  
B: Hello!  
  
DM: My name is Joe. I have a house, three kids, and one spouse. And I work…  
  
B: Where do you work?  
  
DM: in a button factory, and one day...  
  
B: One day!  
  
DM: my boss came up to me and said, "Hey Joe! Are you busy?  
  
B: I said, "No."  
  
DM: He said, "Then push this button with your left elbow!" (you move your left arm back and forth until you are done)  
  
  
  
And it goes on like that changing from the right elbow (move both arms), to the left knee bone (move both arms and left leg), to the right knee bone (move both arms and both legs). And at the very end, when the boss asks if you are busy you say, "YES!" and then you can stop.  
  
I would say that the morning of that day was fun.  
  
After we came back from lunch, we spent the rest of the day playing the music for the show and the stand tunes. 


End file.
